Diagnosis of gastric duplication cyst by positron emission tomography/computed tomography: A case report

BACKGROUND: Gastric duplication cysts (GDCs) are extremely uncommon lesions and the definitive diagnosis of GDCs is challenging for gastrointestinal specialists. It is important that a differential diagnosis is performed to rule out the possibility of other diseases, mainly malignancies with a cystic component. Despite the use of multiple diagnostic modalities including endoscopy, the preoperative diagnosis of GDCs is challenging. CASE SUMMARY: A 53-year-old female patient with a GDC was confirmed by positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) instead of more conventional procedures such as endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). We propose that (18)F-FDG-PET/CT has higher accuracy than EUS-FNA and may be an effective technique for the characterization of duplication cysts. CONCLUSION: Preoperative diagnosis of GDCs in adults is difficult largely due to their rarity and the absence of characteristic findings. In addition, few endoscopists include GDCs in the differential diagnosis when they encounter a lesion with cystic characteristics. (18)F-FDG-PET/CT with additional imaging data, may complement EUS-FNA in the diagnosis of GDCs.